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with a mingled feeling of wonder and self-reproach; reproach that he had ever spoken harshly to or required so much from his wife, and wonder at the patience and long-suffering of a woman who could, day after day, perform these duties without a murmur. But for the present "he communed with his own heart and was still." "Emma," said he, one day, "I wonder if Mr. Hall, the schoolmaster, would come and read to me an hour every evening, if we should send for him. I wish very much to know the contents of my last medical journal.”

"Wouldn't you like to have me read a while?" she said, mildly, as she rose for the book.

Now, there is a little perversity in men, as well as women, sometimes; and, though the doctor knew that his wife disliked the very sight of his professional books, he consented, and for an hour listened to her pleasant voice, as she read a chapter on tumors, containing a minute description of some difficult surgical operations for the same. Every night, for a week, she found time to read, until the book was finished; and let me add, to the doctor's credit, that not once during that week did he find fault with the cooking, though one day the beef was baked ten minutes too long, and the rice-pudding not long enough.

The doctor's limb was doing well; he would soon be out again; none the worse physically for his accident, and morally a wiser man.

"To-morrow I shall try the crutches," he said to his wife, as she closed her book for the night, "and I hope I shall not trouble you to read any more. My eyesight will be better now, I have no doubt."

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I hope, then, you will read aloud," she replied, "for I am getting quite interested in your books, and have found them very useful to me. I really ought to ask your pardon for having formerly treated them with so much neglect."

This was too much for even the doctor's firmness to bear. He drew his wife to his side, and, with her hand clasped in his, told her how much he needed her forgiveness for his former exacting, faultfinding spirit. "I little knew your cares, Emma, and far less did I know the patience and wisdom which a mother needs. Henceforth I will aid you in your duties to the best of my ability, and let me beg of you to let your husband's heart be the repository of your cares and trials; their recital will never annoy me again.”

Tears blinded the eyes of the wife; she could not speak, and yet her heart was full of joy. Beautiful, indeed, was this melting of hearts that had been estranged, and pleasant to hovering angels were the mutual promises made that, with God's help, they would aid each other in their duties, and bear their mutual burdens. Sweet as incense on holy altars was the prayer offered that night, and full of meaning that petition, again repeated,

"O, let us not look for unattainable by looking for unmingled bliss on earth; but remember that this is not our rest; and be prepared for difficulties, trials, changes and final separation."

There is now many a silver thread amid the dark locks of the doctor's hair, and his wife has donned a cap, and looks very matronly with her three girls and her twin boys; but her brow is smooth and her heart at peace, for her husband is a tower of strength unto her, and his heart trusteth in her. On the blank leaf of his last present to her (don't smile, reader,- it was Condie on the Diseases of Children) he wrote,

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FASHION.

BY REV. E. PORTER DYER.

O, WHAT is Fashion's rich reward
To those who Fashion follow?
One day adored, the next abhorred,
How empty and how hollow!

The fickle-minded, thoughtless, vain,
May count her quite a goddess,
Because she asks a flowing train,
Or tightly-fitting bodice.

The fop may take her snowy hand
And lead her to the bridal;

The act may seem to him quite grand,
But, O! 'tis suicidal!

Though thousands bend before her shrine
With awed and reverent feeling,

As if the goddess were divine,

To whom the fools are kneeling,

Yet Fashion, lady, ne'er can make
Of thee a lovelier creature;
So do not thou, for pity's sake,
EXPERIMENT ON NATURE!

IMPROPRIETY IN DRESS.

THE eye affects the heart, and not unfrequently inflames the passions. The lusts of the eye are like the winds of heaven, giving intensity to the raging element, and spread far and wide the triumphs of desolation With what caution should everything that is unbecoming be avoided! While taste and refinement are not forbidden, it should be the refinement of an elevated, a purified mind. Any and every approach to those modes of dress which are contrary to the principles of modesty, purity and holiness, should be met with prompt, severe, and unqualified condemnation.

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JUDGE NOT HARSHLY.

BY MRS. S. A. B. CARRIER.

THERE is in this dark world many a green
And fertile spot, to gladden hearts oppressed
With sin, and oft depressed with meanless words

And pharisaic acts and stoic looks.

Mankind are not all wicked. There are hearts,

Warm hearts of gushing tenderness, to feel
Another's woe amid the heartless ones.
Judge not, ye suffering, that a Christian soul
Has no humanity. One cannot ope

His purse to every applicant,- else soon

'T would hungry be itself. Sometimes, mayhap,

He'll bless with kindly words. Sometimes in acts

Of charity and love. Again, sometimes,

With alms of silver, or with golden dust.
Benevolence is varied in its forms,
And oft an aching, sympathizing heart,
Who fain would eagles give, must be content
To offer dimes, or whisper words of love.

SIR EGERTON BRYDGES remarks, "The age of a cultivated mind is often more complacent, and even more luxurious, than the youth. It is the reward of the due use of the endowments bestowed by nature : while they who in youth have made no provision for age are left like an unsheltered tree, stripped of its leaves and its branches, shaking and withering before the cold blasts of winter. In truth, nothing is so happy itself, and so attractive to others, as a genuine and ripened imagination, that knows its own powers, and throws forth its treasures with frankness and fearlessness. The more it produces, the more capable it becomes of producing; the creative faculty grows by indulgence, and the more it combines, the more means and varieties of combinations it discovers."

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